WEST POINT, Miss.–Yokohama Tire Corporation along with state officials broke ground Monday on the company’s first ground-up manufacturing facility in the country.
They announced back in April the commercial truck tire plant would go up in West Point.
“I am grateful to the Yokohama team, to the Mississippi Legislature and to those at the state and local levels for working so quickly to get this project underway,” said Governor Phil Bryant who was on hand. “I look forward to visiting again in the near future as we celebrate the grand opening of Yokohama’s tire manufacturing plant and once again prove to the world that Mississippi is a great place for business.”
The first phase of the project will have a $300 million investment by Yokohama and will create 500 new jobs in the Golden Triangle.
There is potential in the future that the company could invest much more money in the area and raise the total jobs to around 2,000 total.
“This is a great day for Yokohama, Mississippi and the community of West Point,” said Tadaharu Yamamoto, president of Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi, LLC. “As we move forward with construction of our new tire-making facility, I’d like to personally thank Governor Bryant, his staff and all the people in Mississippi for their support on this incredible endeavor. There’s no question we made the right choice coming to Mississippi with this project.”
Yokohama is based out of Tokyo, Japan and has more than 4,500 points of sale in the United States.
